April 2007 Rhine River Cruise:  Köln (Cologne), Germany

Thursday, April 19, 2007

We docked in Cologne last night and had somewhat leisurely breakfast on board before setting off on our Shore Excursion of a walking tour of old (Altstadt) Cologne and a visit to the Cathedral.

After lunch back on board, we had the afternoon free to explore the area.  We wouldn't set sail until 11pm so there was plenty of time for whatever crossed our minds to do.


Our 'life preserver' reminds us where we...
Our boat docked along the river at a riverside...
A closer look at the church Gross St....
Buildings in Altstadt (Old Town) near Gross St....
On the far side of the river side park where we dock, an...
The café and restaurant signs in the narrow streets are...
"Drink Like A Fish" might be an appropriate name for this...
Even good ol' American Budweiser (Budvar) has...
Wisteria vines on buildings around the plaza in front of...
A closer look at the wisteria.
And a little closer!  It is such a beautiful...
Entrance to the Gross St. Martin.
Stones from an early Roman wall excavated as the museum...
Majestic towers of the Cologne Cathedral.
Remains of an early Roman aqueduct.
An old wall was left in place when the museum was...
Dionysus Mosaic: Dates back to the early 3rd century AD....
One of the individual scenes in the...
Side entrance of the Cologne cathedral showing flying...
The tower of the cathedral, the same ones we saw from...
One set of the flying buttresses.
Flying buttresses support the transept and the front part...
A closer look at the flying buttresses supporting the...
And, one more even closer look.
The front of the cathedral.  Because of the...
This gives a better feel for the greatness of the building.
Detail of the carved stonework above the main front...
The pair of main front entrance doors are in and of...
Beyond words beautiful Gothic arches of the enterior of...
A closer look at the stained glass windows at the front...
A closer look at the high altar area of the nave.
A closer look, showing some of the exquisite color and...
One of the many exquisite stained glass windows that line...
Behind the main altar in the Cologne Cathedral, the gold...
A closer look at the side of the casket reported to be...
Splendid mosaic floor of the cathedral.  One...
A look down the transept that we earlier saw from the...
We were delighted to see a group of small children being...
Ceiling of one of the side rooms in the Cologne Cathedral.
On our way out, we noticed this ancient extension ladder...
This shows where a test was made of cleaning the...
After our walking tour and a tour of the Cathedral, we...
Enjoying our Kölsch!
Some of our new Puerto Rican friends at the next table...
Our Cruise Manager, Jochen, wistfully thinking it would...
On the way out, smaller rooms for dining.
In front of the Braühaus Früh, empty, well almost empty,...
On our own now and heading back toward the Viking Sun for...
A very colorful hotel restaurant.  It too has...
Almost back to the boat, the park area along the...
Buildings near the Gross St. Martin are rainbow like in...
More colorful restaurants and hotels.
This architecturally strange looking structure is the...
Looking at the Chocolate Museum from a different...
A bicycle taxi parked in front of the...
The older part of the museum.  There's a large...
Ahhh!  Inside the museum...
Chocolates in every shape, flavor and...
At the back side of the building is an outdoor...
From the second level at the end of the museum, a look...
Here's a closer look at the boats.  You can see...
This building was almost directly across from our...
A view of the front side of the Maritim Hotel Cologne.
The hotel is attached to a small convention...
Another restaurant / hotel we pass on the way back to the...
And, in a shop window, a Kölsch carrier with glasses can...
Ahhh! And before we head back to the boat, a stop for a...
We pass another building with an interesting...
And on this building, a creative brasswork lamp holder.
Just couldn't pass up another shot of a wisteria draped...
Now we're back in the area where we started out this...
Back on the boat, we clean up for dinner and head to the...
Part of the evening ritual was the Daily Briefing when...
After dinner, our routine was to head back up to the...
We were always in the lounge before the crowds...
And, this evening, our Cruise Manager had put together a...
Our Cruise Manager was also "the Bookie"!  We...
And, then he called the...
Sandra and Julia, the assistant cruise managers, rolled...
The end of the evening found Thomas (our Hotel...
A stroll by the upper sun deck (perhaps at this hour,...

Total images: 81 · Last update: 10/23/07 5:49 PM · ©2007 T&R Flinn Productions · Comments · Generated by JAlbum 7.3 & Chameleon